Seven Seas Beacon Fire

A single wounded soldier lying down can occupy enough space for four or five adult men to stand. The greater the pressure we put on the enemy, the slower their retreat will be. Only in this way can I retain sufficient backup—if the navy cannot solve the problem, then we at least still have a chance to keep the enemy on this land.”

Zhao Biao did not expect that Li Renxu would not only bring up his teacher, but that extraordinary person was the common teacher of Li Renchi, Li Renxu, Li Rensui, and even Li Che. In his early years, he was the military advisor and close friend of the Prince of Jin. It can be said that the reason why the Northwest Garrison is in its current state, the reason why the officials outside the pass have such high organizational ability, and the reason why the "Datong Faction" has formed around the Prince of Jin, which has become an undeniable political faction, are all closely related to this person.

If this man had not passed away two years ago, Prince Jin probably wouldn't have hesitated for so long regarding the state of affairs after the Yingtianfu Incident, which broke out between Emperor Yongning and Prince Lu, who was serving as the Left Censor-in-Chief, ultimately leading the provisional government to almost bring the country to its doom.

As Mr. Ma's student, Li Renxu should not have made such a mistake on matters of principle, and his reasons for insisting on attacking were indeed quite sufficient and logically sound.

So Zhao Biao slowly nodded: "In that case, I can't continue to object. But I still have to remind the Second Young Master that we only have two divisions of our old troops here. The other troops are either on the southern front of Silla, or have been taken to Yingtian Prefecture by the Prince, or are being prepared to be sent to Luzon and Yanping. Our old troops are very valuable and must be used carefully."

“Of course, we came from the battlefield in the Northwest together, amidst gunfire. I also hope that all our comrades can return home safely, but now someone has to step up.” As he said this, Li Renxu couldn’t help but turn his gaze to the northeast, in the direction of Vladivostok: “As for how much our old comrades will sacrifice, it depends on how well my nephew does.”

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"The United States has built a more robust defense at sea than we imagined."

In the naval headquarters, Cheng Hengqi held a baton and earnestly explained to a group of young officers around him the markings made with different colored pencils on an enlarged nautical chart of the area around Yuanshan Port.

These officers were the torpedo boat squadron commanders personally selected by Li Che after he arrived in Vladivostok. Originally, some people in the navy were quite dissatisfied with Li Che's interference in the internal affairs of the navy, but they did not dare to openly oppose him. So after Cheng Hengqi returned to port, these people secretly complained to Cheng Hengqi that the grandson was "abusing his power and acting tyrannically" in the navy.

Basically, they wanted to pass up all the people Li Che had selected and replace them with their own people. Li Che had always known about this behavior—the Embroidered Uniform Guard had investigated very thoroughly—but the result left Li Che speechless.

These old-fashioned stubborn members of the Navy—you could say they're good, but they form cliques within the Navy, suppress other factions, and their tactical thinking is outdated. They just give the impression of a bunch of insects.

But you can't say they were bad. Knowing how dangerous these lightning strike missions were, they still used underhanded tactics to send their own nephews and nieces to the battlefield, truly sending their own people to the front lines, instead of waiting for civilian officers to return and reap the rewards. Regardless, this certainly shows they valued honor more than their own lives.

However, after reviewing the list of candidates, Cheng Hengqi quickly agreed to their appointment requests. The young officers surrounding him at that moment were the commanders of the lightning strike squad, including Ling Xiao, Chen Ce, Chen Shaokuan, and Xu Yueming.

At this moment, Cheng Hengqi was introducing the results he had obtained from his personal reconnaissance aboard a cruiser.

"The Federation has set up a triple safety net along these three lines: first, there are Federation cruisers patrolling the outermost circle. These cruisers are not numerous and their weapons are not very strong. Except for a few, they generally only have 5-inch guns. For example, the two Chester-class light cruisers I encountered only had four 5-inch guns on the entire ship, so their firepower was quite weak."

However, these cruisers serve as eyes and early warning systems. If we collide with the Federation warships on this first line, we're likely to win. The Federation forces on the second and third lines will already be prepared, so what follows will be tough battles.

"I want to emphasize here that although the early light cruisers deployed by the Federation in the Yingzhou Sea had particularly weak firepower, this weakness was relative to our cruisers. These ships were equipped with a large number of 57mm and 47mm rapid-fire guns, and these small-caliber guns still posed a serious threat to torpedo boats."

"So our first priority is to deal with these peripheral United States warships?"

"Our first priority is to try to avoid these warships, you idiot!"

Chapter Sixty: Advancing Under Fire! (1)

Cheng Heng used his baton to point back and forth on the models of several ships on the table: "I know that you are all quite eager to try, and I also know that you are all unafraid of sacrifice, but simply not being afraid of sacrifice is not enough to bring victory."

His baton first pointed to several small boat models on the left. These models were the most typical old-fashioned small destroyers and large ocean-going torpedo boats of the Ming army in the port: "Although our ships are equipped with almost all the 40mm machine guns that we can find in the country, and even the large torpedo boats have a fairly dense barrage of fire, this kind of close-range suppression tactic of bayonet fighting at sea is ultimately the last resort. What we need to do is be assassins. The most important thing is to not let the enemy easily discover us before launching a fatal attack."

He then pointed his baton to several models on the right, which were typical warships of the Federation: "Of course, if we encounter Federation warships, we should attack first and then continue to suppress them. I'm sure everyone understands that now, right?"

Everyone present nodded repeatedly, scanning the gun positions first and then the personnel. They had already memorized the locations of the gun positions on typical Federation warships and the armor protection range of the Federation's main combat vessels based on the model and the identification book of Federation warships.

"Before we set off, I want to emphasize this one last time: after departure, all ships must maintain radio silence. Each formation should confirm each other's positions using navigation lights and pay close attention to radio signals. We have deployed radios along the entire east coast of the Silla Peninsula. These radios will be constantly transmitting signals. You just need to proceed along the coastline and listen to these signals. Before we approach Wonsan, the radio signals will be three short dots. Only near Wonsan will the radio signals be two long dots and one short dot."

Cheng Hengqi emphasized that radio signals are the simplest means of navigation and communication at present. This idea of ​​radio navigation was based on some "rough suggestions" made by Li Che beforehand. After discussion and refinement by the General Staff, it was formulated with reference to the experience of the Leitanians in using airships to bomb London.

This radio navigation technology can be considered a key factor in ensuring the success of the operation.

Although attack formations have experienced navigators who estimate the entire formation's journey on a map based on direction and speed, this method is prone to error, and the error accumulates over time.

So every now and then, navigators have to compare maps with some reference points they actually see to determine where they are. However, these traditional navigation methods are difficult to use at night, let alone on the vast ocean at night.

Intuitively, if you start from Vladivostok and head south along the coastline, you'll reach Wonsan, right? How could you possibly get lost?

But in reality, the situation was far more complicated. First of all, in order to be as stealthy as possible, the entire fleet sailed into the depths of the Sea of ​​Yingzhou after departing from Vladivostok before heading south, in order to avoid running into the Federation's patrol fleet as much as possible.

Therefore, the entire formation could not see the coastline during the voyage, and naturally could not determine its position based on the reference points on the coastline. Moreover, the ideal situation for the entire attack formation was to arrive near Yuanshan at dawn and launch the attack.

Therefore, arriving accurately and on time is extremely important. If the attack formation arrives after daybreak, the casualties will likely be much heavier, and the effectiveness of the attack will be even more uncertain.

Therefore, this radio-guided strategy was adopted. The attack formation only needed to remain silent and receive signals throughout the entire process. When they found that the radio signals they received had changed, it meant that they had approached the vicinity of Yuanshan Port.

As for how to accurately locate Yuanshan Port at that time.........

"After receiving the signal, the flagship of the formation will break radio silence and send the message 'The sky is clear and the water is blue today.' Subsequently, the army outside Wonsan Port will launch a large-scale artillery bombardment as agreed upon receiving the message. The sound of artillery and the flashes of explosions will provide you with visual guidance."

Cheng Hengqi continued, "It can be said that at that time, part of the army's artillery units will probably have to open fire under the threat of enemy naval guns to guide you to the direction of the enemy's landing site. After the army's artillery fires, you need to launch an attack immediately. At that time, the on-site command will be coordinated by the flagship to allocate attack procedures and tasks to each unit. After entering the attack procedure, each unit will follow the guidance of the command post set up on the shore to carry out the attack. If the command boat loses its combat capability during this process, what should be done next?"

"Command will be taken over in order of individual numbers. If command cannot be restored, each submarine will decide on its attack target."

Soon someone came up with the prepared standard contingency plan. This standard contingency plan looked very simple, even somewhat rudimentary. However, contingency plans are meant to be the last resort when normal methods fail.

The purpose of a contingency plan is not to maximize its effectiveness, but rather to prevent chaos when problems arise during the execution of the original operational plan.

For this, a navy that was good at using small boats to fight large ships paid a price in the early stages of its establishment, a price that was neither too high nor too low.

At this point, Cheng Hengqi snapped his fingers: "In addition, Lieutenant Xu Yueming just gave a good suggestion yesterday, which is to have our airships arrive near the front line in advance and land, and then take off at dawn on the day we launch the attack. After receiving the radio signal, these airships will turn on their searchlights and drop flares in the air to provide target guidance for the formation on the sea."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their attention to the universally acknowledged "inferior student of the Naval Academy." Xu Yueming didn't like being stared at like that, and he showed a hesitant expression. In fact, this idea didn't come from him alone, but rather from a conversation he had with Li Che, which was then gradually refined through discussion.

These days, the weight of bombs and torpedoes that airplanes can carry is extremely limited, making it difficult to cause serious damage to medium and large naval surface ships. Small bombs, no bigger than a sweet potato, can't even hit a warship. Light torpedoes, which can barely be carried, not only have low power, but also require very strict conditions for being launched. The aircraft must fly at a height of a few meters close to the water surface, the speed cannot exceed 90 knots, and the altitude above the sea surface cannot exceed 10 meters. Otherwise, the torpedo will shatter upon entering the sea. That's about the structural strength of torpedoes these days.

As for whether there were any aircraft capable of carrying heavier weapons in this era? Of course there were, namely airships, but for airships to attack targets on the sea surface in this day and age was simply a pipe dream.

So if aircraft cannot effectively attack targets on the sea, does that mean they have no role to play in this battle?

Li Che first thought of the AC130, but he didn't want to mount the 105mm cannon or 40mm autocannon on the airship. Instead, he thought of mounting searchlights on the airship. The high-powered searchlights could illuminate the sea surface even at an altitude of several thousand meters, acting as an artificial sun.

After everyone turned their attention back, Cheng Hengqi continued, "You have all conducted several simulated attack and target identification training sessions before this. Although your final results were not particularly outstanding, our enemy is not well prepared in this regard either. Don't be afraid of making mistakes during the mission. Making mistakes is normal. What we need to do is minimize mistakes. Or rather, this is a competition between us and the enemy to see who makes fewer mistakes."

Tomorrow at this time is the day the fleet sets sail. After you return, please check the condition of the warships in your respective formations and confirm the replenishment of ammunition and fuel. I should say a few words of encouragement to everyone now, but I'm not very good with words. Apart from saying that the motherland is waiting for us, I don't know what else to say. Fortunately, His Highness is here now, so I'll give him the opportunity to encourage everyone.”

After Cheng Hengqi finished speaking, he readily stepped aside and gestured for Li Che, who had been standing next to him, to speak. Li Che was somewhat taken aback and surprised, after all, he had come today simply to sit in on the military conference. "I'm not being modest," he said, "I haven't prepared a speech at all, so why am I suddenly being asked to speak?"

However, under these circumstances, he secretly told himself not to lose face and quickly searched his mind for templates that he could "copy".

Which template should I use?

When Li Che came to the table and saw the models on the left and right sides of the nautical table, inspiration suddenly struck him.

"Comrades, we have gathered here today with shared ideals and aspirations to carry out a great operational plan. Whether we succeed or fail, we will dedicate everything to our country. Therefore, please allow me to address you as... comrades."

Gentlemen! As you can see from the models on both sides, this time we are fighting a large ship with a small boat, and our enemy has an absolute qualitative advantage.

But I think it's no big deal; our navy has a glorious and long history.

Three hundred years ago, when we used Fujian ships to fight against the Dutch sailing warships, the Song King (Zheng Chenggong) set fire to the Dutch warships and attacked them. The situation then is quite similar to the present.

One hundred years ago in the Strait of Malacca, Marshal Yang Wenli had less than half the number of third-class warships the British had. We even had to convert merchant ships into warships to fight the British.

We are not an army born to win through superior equipment; we too have faced hardship, men! Now, like our glorious predecessors, we march into battle with less-than-ideal weapons. But will this stop us from bringing victory?

"cannot!"

PS:

"I don't understand why everyone is talking about the black monkey being trapped, as if this single-player battlefield is destined to be fraught with danger for us."

Six years ago, Youke embarked on its journey from scratch, beginning its first attempt, and the dawn of a Chinese AAA masterpiece was finally in sight. Wherever this game's army went, players welcomed it wholeheartedly, truly taking full advantage of opportune timing.

That state of vitality and all things competing is still before our eyes.

In just four short years, this place has actually transformed into a breeding ground for young students?

No matter how you look at it, the advantage is in my hands against Unreal Engine 5 and Unreal Engine 4!

Chapter Sixty-One: Advancing Under Fire! (2)

19年4月15号，在海参崴港外距离港区大概30海里的海面上，刷着C22舷号的查尔斯顿号一等巡洋舰悠然地在海参崴的港外兜着圈子。

Their mission was to maintain surveillance of the port of Vladivostok. The United States Navy was not stupid; they knew very well that the main threat to their retreat from Wonsan came from the Ming First Fleet in the port of Vladivostok to the north.

Although the First Fleet was considered a retirement fleet within the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy's operational system, the United States Navy had accumulated considerable combat experience after suffering so many defeats in this world war. No matter how many escort forces were deployed outside the landing zone, it was not as effective as nipping the danger in the bud.

Therefore, the United States Army attempted to bombard Vladivostok some time ago. However, the strength of the port's defense system exceeded the United States' previous expectations. According to intelligence, the port had not replaced its coastal defense guns with new ones on a large scale. However, when the United States conducted its bombardment, it was hit by Ming army coastal defense guns at a distance of 17,000 meters. Obviously, the intelligence department's previous intelligence was problematic. The Ming army had already replaced its coastal defense guns with the latest ones even in such a remote port.

After realizing that shelling Vladivostok was no longer feasible, the United States military opted for fixed-point surveillance, and the task was naturally assigned to the USS Charleston, the third ship of the St. Louis-class cruisers.

Compared to the "Saint Father" title in a magical naval warfare game in another world, the real St. Louis-class cruiser was a neglected child in the Federation Navy's system. This first-class cruiser with a displacement of 9700 tons entered service when the navies of various countries had already entered the era of dreadnoughts. Therefore, like many orphans of the pre-dreadnought era, this cruiser faced the situation of becoming outdated as soon as it entered service.

With a speed of only 22 knots, it was simply not a good match for dreadnoughts in the modern era. Not to mention that the St. Louis class was the first cruiser built in large numbers by the Federal Navy and had serious lack of experience. Its protection mainly relied on a 76 mm thick domed armor plate and a 102 mm thick waterline armor belt. Moreover, the waterline armor was only on both sides of the engine room. The conning tower armor was 127 mm thick, and there was a 51 mm thick gun protection armor belt on each side of the hull.

As an analogy, we don't even need to bring up masterpieces like Garibaldi, which are smaller in tonnage, have comparable speed, stronger protection, and more powerful firepower. In another world, contemporary British armored cruisers of the same period, with comparable tonnage, not only had side armor of 6 to 7 inches, but also had at least eight-inch or 9.2-inch guns plus a number of six-inch guns similar to those of St. Louis.

Compared to other warships of the same class, its speed is not outstanding, its protection is not great, and even its firepower, which is praised in magic games, is actually quite weak.

As the captain of this warship, Tannhäuser had been performing minor, insignificant tasks for a long time during the war. Now, he had finally taken on a mission with some weight, which made Colonel Tannhäuser very hopeful that he could discover something.

He knew very well why his superiors had assigned this previously neglected ship to carry out this surveillance mission. The Ming army could defeat the Charleston's warships in the port of Vladivostok, which were the old pre-dreadnoughts, but those old battleships could not keep up with the Charleston in terms of speed.

The other cruisers were not as well-armed as the Charleston. The Charleston's firepower was inferior to that of other first-class cruisers. With 14 single-mounted 152mm main guns, 18 76mm rapid-fire guns, 12 47mm rapid-fire guns, 8 37mm rapid-fire guns, 4 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and 4 7.62mm machine guns, the Charleston's firepower was not only enough to ensure that it could defeat any Ming cruiser in Vladivostok harbor, but the large number of 76mm and 47mm guns would also effectively defend against attacks launched by torpedo boats that came out of the harbor.

It was nearing noon, and there were still about 6 hours before the next cruiser would arrive to relieve them. The cruiser the Colombians had placed here to keep watch at night was a Chester-class scout cruiser. Although the speed of this old-fashioned scout cruiser was no longer sufficient against the new generation of cruisers, it was still enough for the Ming fleet in Vladivostok at the moment.

In fact, Tang Weisser knew very well that the reason why the superiors used these old ships for surveillance, apart from the so-called reasons such as suitable performance like speed or firepower, was mainly because they wouldn't care if these outdated warships were lost.

Moreover, he himself was of Laitanian descent, and in the context of this world war, such a "good thing" as carrying out this mission naturally fell to him.

He also remembered that two days ago, a Ming cruiser had approached Dongxinluo Bay. Although the Ming cruiser did not successfully enter Dongxinluo Bay and cause damage to the United States transport fleet inside, the fact that the Ming cruiser in Vladivostok harbor dared to take the initiative to attack and get so close still made Admiral Benson, who was in charge of directly commanding the evacuation operation at Wonsan Harbor, very angry.

Therefore, the United States Army strengthened its surveillance outside Vladivostok Harbor. The Charleston's mission was to immediately head south if it discovered that Ming warships in the harbor were on fire and had raised anchor, and at the same time send a radio report to the main force of the Seventh Fleet in the south.

Although the Seventh Fleet is a "navy of the army" that mainly supports army operations, it not only has many shallow-draft heavy gunboats, but also more cruisers and destroyers than the Ming army in Vladivostok, and even a few early Colombian dreadnoughts—two Delaware-class battleships, two Florida-class battleships, and two of the oldest South Carolina-class battleships.

The two South Carolina-class battleships, having started construction earliest, had many primitive designs and a speed of just over 16 knots. They were unable to accompany the main fleet in other directions, but they could still reign supreme in the Yingzhou Sea.

Once the Charleston discovers the situation, it only needs to quickly head south to fetch reinforcements, and then it will be able to obtain the medal. Colonel Tannhäuser also has the hope of turning his colonel rank into a general's star in the future.

Everyone knows that the size of the United States Army and Navy will definitely be streamlined after the war. For most officers, especially those who have risen to the rank of colonel, the natural desire is to stay in the military and advance further.

Such a task was naturally extremely tedious. They hadn't found anything after a morning of surveillance. In fact, Colonel Tangweiser also felt that since they had just chased the Ming Dynasty cruiser with its rear end on fire all the way to Vladivostok, the other party was unlikely to reappear anytime soon.

But that's how orders are from above, and there's nothing he can do about it. Commanders just need to issue orders, but the captains below them have to consider many more things.

"I'm going to have afternoon tea with Mrs. Newcastle," Colonel Tannhäuser said to his first mate in Cambridge. "Let me know if anything happens."

The first mate smiled and gave a thumbs up to indicate that he had received it. Mentioning Mrs. Newcastle, the sailors in Cambridge couldn't help but chuckle. This so-called Mrs. Newcastle was actually the ship's mascot—a little deer from Nara, Japan, who was currently the most popular guest on the entire ship.

Of course, whether some veteran sailors regret that the mascot is a deer instead of a lamb is unknown.

After Colonel Tannhäuser left Cambridge, unnoticed by the officers and men on the cruiser Charleston, a somewhat sneaky periscope emerged from the sea. Beneath the beautiful surface of this Yingzhou Sea, a pack of wolves silently watched their prey, gradually baring their fangs.

These submarines are Ming Dynasty "Seal" class submarines from Vladivostok port. This type of submarine was also introduced 10 years ago. As one of the world's earliest combat-ready modern submarines, the Seal class submarines are naturally not very large in tonnage.

The submarine is only 55.6 meters long, 6 meters wide, and has a draft of 3.23 meters. Its standard displacement is 495 tons, and its submerged displacement is 600 tons. It is powered by two 6-cylinder diesel engines and two 8-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines, along with two electric motors for underwater propulsion. It is equipped with six 450mm torpedo tubes arranged in a four-forward, two-rear configuration.

These "diving ships" have a maximum surface speed of 14.2 knots and a maximum underwater speed of 8.1 knots. It can be said that if such ships want to attack any surface combat vessels, they can basically only rely on setting up ambushes in the waterways.

These early submarines, limited by their tonnage and range, did not have much room to play in naval raiding operations after the outbreak of war, but they are now particularly adept at launching attacks.

The night before last, all seven submarines in Vladivostok harbor had already set sail, lying in wait at different locations around the harbor, in order to eliminate the United States' eyes and ears outside Vladivostok harbor with lightning speed when the time was right.

These submarines have been submerged for a long time, and the air inside the submarines is now very murky. Even though all the oxygen regenerators have been used, the crew members still feel a bit tight in their chests and uncomfortable. But this agonizing time is finally coming to an end. The Kun 25 submarine has now discovered that the enemy's route is approaching its ambush position.

His eyes were now fixed on the forward-facing scope, and he issued the battle order with great excitement.

"Fill the torpedo tubes with water!"

Chapter Sixty-Two: Advancing Under Fire! (3)

By the time the lookouts on the Charleston spotted the torpedo trail, it was too late.

The 450mm thermal torpedo launched by the Seal-class submarine Kun 25 is the second largest caliber torpedo among the Ming Dynasty's shipborne torpedoes. The evolution of torpedo caliber in the Ming Navy went from the early 381mm torpedoes to the later 450mm torpedoes, 500mm torpedoes, and the latest 550mm torpedoes equipped on some destroyers.

(There really were 15-inch torpedoes in history. I'm just mentioning this for fun, nothing more. Wait, why do I hear a whooshing sound coming from the air?)

The development of this 450mm torpedo basically ceased after 10 years. After all, the potential of torpedoes, from effective range to warhead charge, had been exhausted compared to the new generation of 500mm or even 550mm heavy torpedoes.

However, in this very era, the underwater mine protection of the vast majority of warships is utterly inadequate.

The submarine Kun 25 launched all four torpedoes from its bow in one go. The four torpedoes spread out in a fan shape at sea. Upon spotting the torpedoes, the helmsman on the bridge of the Charleston immediately made a sharp turn to avoid them.

But it was too late. On the Charleston, from the lookouts to the other crew members, most of their attention was focused on the direction of Vladivostok port, and no one was able to notice the torpedo trails launched from their other side of the ship early enough.

Furthermore, given that the Charleston was a second-line vessel, the quality of its crew was truly unsatisfactory. While the combat skills of the officers and soldiers of the Federal Navy's first-line naval forces had made significant progress in this war, the quality of the officers and soldiers of these second-line naval forces, who had previously had almost no opportunities to engage in combat, was still questionable.

So when the helmsman on the Charleston was trying to avoid a torpedo, he actually cut outside the torpedo.

Those who have played a certain Belarusian magical naval warfare game will surely have a deep impression of some newbies who dodged torpedoes like this in the early stages of the game. As a result, the cruiser Charleston took two torpedoes solidly at the stern and bow.

Although the 450mm torpedo's warhead only weighed 150 kg, which seems far less than the warheads of those later famous heavy ship-launched torpedoes, it was still a fatal blow to a cruiser like the Charleston.

From the late 9th to the early 10th century, the era of the fastest development of naval technology and the fastest iteration of equipment in various countries, artillery evolved from recoil-operated guns to recoil-operated guns, fire control evolved from sextant to central fire control system with variable pitch disc, and power evolved from reciprocating triple-expansion steam engine to steam turbine. The technological progress of various subsystems was dazzling.

However, in the research on the anti-sinkability of ships, many countries have long been stagnant or at the level of "technological fantasy".